If all goes well, the former NFL coach and Pro Football Hall of Fame member hopes to be home in time for Sunday's games.

Ditka, 73, downplayed the stroke. He was hospitalized Friday with what doctors told him was a "very minor" stroke.

"I feel good right now, and it's not a big deal," Ditka told the Chicago Tribune on Friday night.

Ditka is best known from his years as the Chicago Bears' coach, having led the team to its only Super Bowl victory. He also played for the Bears—he was a tight end. He later coached the New Orleans Saints and famously traded an entire year's draft picks for the rights to running back Ricky Williams.

He had a heart attack in 1988 while Bears coach but had been free of health problems in recent years.

Ditka told the Tribune he was at a country club playing cards on Friday when he noticed that his hands "weren't working quite right" and that he was having problems speaking.

Ditka works for ESPN as an NFL analyst and is part of its Sunday NFL Countdown show. Ditka will not be on the show this weekend.

The Bears drafted Ditka in 1961 out of Pittsburgh. He played with them until 1967, when he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles. He finished his playing career with the Dallas Cowboys.

In his 1985 Super Bowl win season, the Bears went 18-1. His career coaching record is 121-95.

The stroke came on the same day that a Lake County prosecutor said in court that Ditka's son, Mark E. Ditka, tested positive for opiates during a pretrial screening earlier this month, according to the Tribune. The younger Ditka is awaiting trial on his fourth DUI charge.